Issue 7May 2004

News from the National Workshop Program

EdGEO Website www.edgeo.org (application & report forms online, other links)

Executive:Eileen Van der Flier-Keller, ChairJane WynneSheila Dale-JohnstonNick Massey

University of VictoriaSchool of Earth and

Ocean SciencesP.O. Box 3055, STN

CSC, V8W 3P6Phone (250) 472-4019Fax (250) 472-4030

Email: fkeller@uvic.ca

Published by theNational EdGEO

Workshop Program

David Mate, Editor

EdGEO is coordinated bythe Canadian GeoscienceEducation Network of theCanadianGeoscienceCouncil

Teacher Responses

Importance of Rocks& Minerals

NunavutWorkshops

Geoscape CommunityGuides

EdGEO Teachers atGeoSciEd IV

Geoscape Ottawa -Gatineau

Waterscape

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EdGEO Sponsors

Dr. Eileen Van Der Flier-Keller, University of Victoria, fkeller@uvic.ca

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Teachers Enthusiastic About Earth Science!!!

EdGEO’s mandate is “to provide teacherswith classroom resources, and confidence throughknowledge and hands-on activities, to enhancetheir ability and enthusiasm to teach the earthscience components of the curriculum”.

I thought it would be useful and inspiringto share some of the comments from teachers whoattended the EdGEO workshops held in 2003across Canada. Here is a sampling of what theteachers are saying.

This course gave me some really great ideas andthings to do since I have no science background.Thank you!Calgary Feb 2003

The single best workshop I have ever attended.Wow! Can’t wait to play with my resourcematerials and use them in the classroom. Nova Scotia Aug 2003

It was just a top notch workshop with so much totake home to our students.The sponsors are to be thanked for this opportunityto educate educators.Drumheller July 2003

Hands-on simple explanations followed by ‘hands-on’ examples.Rock samples with explanations will be great foreducational purposes when teaching in the future.Edmonton Jun 2003

Excellent demonstration ideas that have beenclassroom tested.Please keep offering these types of workshop forteachers.Vancouver GAC/MAC May 2003

Looking forward to trying these activities with mystudents.I liked the use of activities to demonstrate how toreach outcomes.Resolute, Nunavut Mar 2003

Very exciting and interactive. Presenters did afantastic job.Iqualuit , Nunavut Mar 2003

Many possible lessons can be created from theinformation passed onto us ... very goodtreatment and atmosphere.Cambridge Bay, Feb Nunavut 2003

Excellent and informative handouts; wonderfulrock and mineral kits to take back to theclassroom.Edmonton Dec 2003

I was blown away! The timing was fantastic aswas the knowledge base of the experts.I enjoyed the hands-on approach of viewingformations up close on the fieldtrip, ratherthan in pictures.Yoho Burgess Shale August 2003

Thanks so much to all of the teachers andgeoscientists who presented and organizedworkshops in 2003 and thanks to our sponsorsCSPG, CGC, MAC and GAC. Your efforts, hardwork and support for Canadian young peopleare greatly appreciated.

Canadian Society ofPetroleum Geologists

Canadian GeoscienceCouncil

Mineralogical Associationof Canada

Geological Associationof Canada

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Importance of Rocks and Minerals in our Lives

First Ever Nunavut EdGEO WorkshopsClaudia Riveros, Department of Economic Development and Transportation, Government of Nunavut

criveros@gov.nu.ca

Historically, humans have used rocks and minerals for justabout every conceivable purpose. One million years ago, duringthe Stone Age, early people used rocks and minerals for tools,weapons, and building material. Since that time, we have foundmore and more uses for these natural resources.

Every product that we use comes from either plant, animal,mineral, or a combination of the three. By far the most commonproduct source is mineral. Even products that are not made fromminerals directly are made from metal machines (metal is madefrom minerals). It is estimated that each person will use anaverage of 16 000 to 18 000 kg of rock and mineral products each

Geoscience is slowly making its way into Nunavut schools.In 2003 during the regional teacher conferences in Nunavut, theDept. of Economic Development and Transportation (DEDT)(formerly the Dept. of Sustainable Development) teamed up with

EdGEO, the Dept. of Education (DE), Kitikmeot Corp. and theNWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines to deliver 5 workshops to atotal of 25 teachers, that were focused on Grades 4-6 rocks, mineralsand erosion units.

The objective of the workshops was to raise teacherawareness and comfort levels in geoscience through Nunavut andInuit-relevant curriculum-based knowledge and hands-onactivities. Workshops were presented in a fun and interactiveway and teachers showed exceptional interest and were thrilledwith the resources provided. Teachers left the workshops feelingenthusiastic and motivated to try the activities with their students.

In an upcoming territory-wide teacher conference scheduledin 2005, the DEDT, DE, EdGEO, and in addition PDAC’s MiningMatters, will collaborate to deliver geoscience workshops targetingelementary and high school teachers. Low workshop enrollmentwas a problem in 2003 primarily because there were plenty ofconcurrent workshops with which to compete. To help address thisproblem, we will begin marketing the workshops in September.Thank you EdGEO for your support.

Rock or Mineral Name Use to Humans

Quartz

Glass, sand, gems, radio transmitters,silicon chips, quartz crystals for computersand watches, lenses for glasses, binoculars

and telescopes

Halite Table salt, soap, fertilizer

Fluorite Fluoride for toothpaste

Corundum Gemstones (sapphires, rubies), sandpaper

Clay Bricks, pottery, ceramics, tiles

Marble Building stone, monuments

Oil Fuel, plastic

year! In a lifetime, the average person will use 350 kg of lead,380 kg of zinc, 680 kg of copper, 1 450 kg of aluminum, 41 000kg of iron and steel, 250 000 kg of coal, and over 500 000 kg ofstone, gravel, cement and clay. The computer industry alone usesalmost every type of mineral mined today for either hardware orsoftware, and we are finding more uses for mineral products everyday.

The table that follows shows many of the more commonrock and mineral uses. This list is by no means complete and youand your students should be able to easily add onto it.

EdGEO Antigonish, Aug. 21, 2000

Two teachers from Pond Inlet inNunavut participated in the GeoSciEd IVEarth Science International Conference inCalgary in August 2003. They were RhodaAtagootak, a high school teacher andCarmen Kyak, an elementary schoolteacher. Funding for the teachers wasprovided by the Dept. of EconomicDevelopment and Transportation (formerlythe Dept. of Sustainable Development) ofthe Government of Nunavut and the Dept.of Lands and Resources of NunavutTunngavik Inc.

Educators and geoscientists, fromaround the world, that deliver earth scienceprograms in classrooms, communities,

Geoscape Community Guides: Exploring How Communities “Live offthe Land”

Bob Turner - Geological Survey of Canada, Natural Resources Canada, bturner@nrcan.gc.ca

museums or science centers attend thisconference. Rhoda and Carmen were ableto share new ideas and concepts with fellowcolleagues from around the globe, andparticipated in technical workshops andfieldtrips. Rhoda and Carmen also realizedat the conference that they were not alonein the challenges involved in deliveringgeoscience to their students.

These teachers were selected toattend the conference because they hadshown exceptional interest in geoscienceduring an EdGEO earth science teacherworkshop. Carmen and Rhoda stronglyencourage any teacher to attend a similarconference in the future.

EdGEO Participants Attend GeoSciEd IVClaudia Riveros - Department of Sustainable Development, Government of Nunavut, criveros@gov.nu.ca

Geoscape is a Natural ResourcesCanada initiative that focuses onconnecting Canadians to their locallandscape…or Geoscape. Graphics- richposters have been developed for numerouscities and regions across the country i.e.Vancouver, Victoria, Whitehorse, Calgary,Edmonton, southern Saskatchewan,Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, and QuebecCity (see www.geoscape.nrcan.gc.ca) andmore are on the way (i.e. Nanaimo, B.C.;Grand River Basin, Ont.; Halifax, NS).However, the effort it takes to produce sucha poster limits production to major citiesand regions across Canada.

So how do we connect Canadians totheir communities faster and get morecommunities involved? How do we increaseCanadians understanding that theircommunity “lives off the land”. A newtemplate is being developed for acommunity Geoscape guide that a class, asa research project, could do for their owncommunity. Student research would bebased on interviews with local community“experts” (public works manager, gasretailer, hydro, etc.), could draw onidentified internet resources, and wouldresearch specific questions. Where does our

water come from? Where does our sewageand garbage go? Where does our energy(e.g. gasoline, natural gas, electricity) comefrom? What local resources do we dependon?

Presently, local geoscape guides arebeing developed for several towns innorthern BC by Natural Resources Canadaand The Exploration Place science center

in Prince George. Charlie Roots isdeveloping a community geoscape guidefor Dawson City, Yukon. Dave Mate isattempting to foster interest in thedevelopment of other community guides byscience centers across Canada throughNRCan’s Science in the Centre’s liaisonwith the Canadian Association of ScienceCentres.

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The latest poster in the highlysuccessful Geoscape series was launchedApril 22, 2004 to an enthusiastic audienceof grades 7, 8, and 11 students at NotreDame Secondary School in Ottawa.

Geoscape Ottawa–Gatineau-: Living with ourgeological landscape is acolourful, large formatposter produced by theGeological Survey ofCanada (GSC) of NaturalResources Canada for abroad audience of generalpublic, teachers andstudents, planners andgeoscientists. This posteruses over 40 diagrams,maps, and photographs toillustrate the geologicalhistory of the region fromthe dawn of time to thepresent and to explain

Geoscape Ottawa - GatineauJan Alysworth, Geological Survey of Canada, Natural Resources Canada, jaylswor@nrcan.gc.ca

A New National Poster Series - Waterscape Canada!Bob Turner - Geological Survey of Canada, Natural Resources Canada, bturner@nrcan.gc.ca

how these events shaped the landscape,created resources, and cause naturalhazards. A satellite image of the Ottawavalley is surrounded by topic panels: Deeptime, Different rocks, Wealth from the land,

Changing landscape, Groundwater, OttawaRiver, Flooding, Landslides, Earthquakes,Radon Gas, and Landuse.

The poster is available, in Englishor French, through GSC sales offices and

on the Internet at http://geoscape.nrcan.gc.ca.Resource kits with lessonplans to facilitate the useof the poster in theclassroom are currentlybeing prepared by theGSC and local teachers,with funding provided byOntario Youth Scienceand Technology throughthe Ontario Ministry ofEnergy, Science andTechnology.

Waterscape Canada is a new national poster series that discuss important water issues for communities and regions across Canada.The posters highlight how this vital resource use is used in the community, the science of local surface and groundwater systems, andbest practices for conservation and protection of the water resource. Each poster is developed by NRCan in partnership with localrepresentatives of federal, provincial, watershed, and municipal agencies with responsibilities for water and land use, communitygroups, and educators. The poster series is modeled after the NRCan Geoscape Canada (www.geoscape.nrcan.gc.ca) and climatechange (www.adaptation.nrcan.gc.ca) poster series.

The series was piloted on Bowen Island, B.C. and the Gulf Islands, B.C. and the draft content of these posters is available atwww.bowenisland.info/waterscapes. A poster is currently being developed for Calgary and the Bow River Basin, and an OkanaganBasin poster is under consideration. The posters create an opportunity to explain water issues to Canadians from an earth scienceperspective.